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#thinstagram

I used "gross" as a hashtag on Instagram today and unintentionally wandered into what seems to be a massive "pro-Ana" Instagram community. I have long since known about such communities on the web, but didn't even think of Instagram. Some of these girls have thousands of followers, too.

I personally turn into a raving lunatic/bitch when my blood sugar starts to drop. Eating disorders are not something I can ever really understand.

Originally Posted by Little_Miss_1565

Or what? Or you'll leave as soon as someone returns your rudeness and delete all your posts? I'm so scared.

Wow, that's awful. Pro-anorexia?? Are there also pro-alcoholism groups?? Jesus. That makes me sad One of my students a couple years ago (she was 14) went through that. I noticed she went from dressing in low-cut, tight clothes, to showing up in baggy sweatpants and hoodies... and then suddenly she wasn't in class anymore, and we found out she was in the hospital. Only much later did her mother tell me it was because of anorexia. She was hospitalized for about 6 weeks, and then at home for months - she never returned to class. It's upsetting, to say the least, to find out that there are huge communities of people praising this...

“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.” – Bill Hicks

I got caught up in looking at profile after profile. Many like to post both motivational "Starve yourself" posters and pictures describing/lamenting/delighting in their own self-harm and then talk about how it isn't for attention. The self-harm glorification just pisses me off. I've discovered a couple close friends cutting themselves and suspected others and every single one of them didn't want a single other person to know. On top of that, the pictures of these girls "cutting" themselves look less severe than the average cat scratch, but they are posing with a straight-up razor blade, where the past/current cutters I know have deep scars. I know I can never really know what is going on in their heads, but how could that possibly be about anything other than attention?

I've known a girl who probably has an account like this. Perhaps having known her has colored my opinion of these other girls. Everything she did, she was fishing for attention/pity/sympathy/whatever, especially from my husband.

Originally Posted by Little_Miss_1565

Or what? Or you'll leave as soon as someone returns your rudeness and delete all your posts? I'm so scared.

Alot of non-cutter do view that as seeking attention and some cutter do that for attention, but not all cutter do it for attention. I never did it for attention I did it to make me feel better. I was always bullied and beat up but once I had whatever ( I used razor blades, safety pins, scissors, knifes) I had in my hand and just pressed that on to my skin was the best feeling ever. I was in control on the pain I was doing to myself, no one else. That was my secret world that I didn't want anyone else in. But after awhile I learnd that if you hid the cuts where no one could see they think that you stopped and you didn't have to explain yourself anymore. I hated talking about it even to my best friends, therapist, my parents. One of my friends told my parents what was going on. I haven't cut myself in I don't know how long but I still think about it, I still get urges to but I haven't done it.

I believe I made a distinction between those who do it for attention and those who do not, quite clearly. Like I said, I have seen the real thing and seen what it does to a person. I've talked to people years after the fact to find out why and try to understand it better.

This is why I hate ever voicing an opinion on these topics. There is always that one person who has to point out that "a lot of non-cutters think it is about attention". No, I don't think self-harm is about attention seeking, however, I think Instagram/Myspace/Livejournal/Whatever profiles glorifying self-harm, whether its starving yourself or cutting yourself, could be about nothing other than attention. I have known people from both sides of the coin.

Please, Tiny Vessels, refrain from accusing anyone of that in the future, as you clearly didn't read my post.

Originally Posted by Little_Miss_1565

Or what? Or you'll leave as soon as someone returns your rudeness and delete all your posts? I'm so scared.